Yoga king to become a rock star?

NEW YORK - Tom Barrack, the CEO of private investment firm Colony Capital, wants to make a ‘rock star’ of an unlikely figure - Bikram Choudhury, the yogi behind Bikram Yoga.

According to sources, Colony, which has 30 billion dollars in assets, has been in negotiations with Choudhury for several weeks, and a deal could be announced this month.

The partnership comes as Barrack has formed a new venture under the Colony umbrella with his sculpted actor buddy, Rob Lowe.

The two have been deal-hunting for opportunities in media, entertainment, sports and other lifestyle brands.

Colony is closing on a 610-million-dollar purchase of movie studio Miramax with building magnate Ron Tutor.

Sources said Colony’s interest in Bikram would be to grow the highly franchised yoga business into a well-managed global industry.

Currently there are 100 million yoga followers worldwide.

“You see studios in every city all over the world. The 100 million may seem like a lot, but it’s the kind of thing where anybody can do yoga, and there’s a whole movement towards life extension and wellness,” the New York Post quoted an insider as saying. (ANI)